Dice LinuxWorld Job Fair Report

I just got back recently from spending a week in the Bay area attending LinuxWorld. It is very interesting seeing the changes in that show over the last seven or so years. I am not sure how many more years it can last, but my primary objective was to go out there and witness Dice's job fair that they were putting on.

Being a Dice client over the years, they were interested in having us attend the job fair. Seems like a legitimate thing to do. However, we decided against doing so. Over the years, we have been fortunate enough to have a booth on the big show floor a couple of times, as well as give a presentation there in the past. Bottom line, our return for doing so was not very great. For some rhyme or reason, it is tough to attract knowledgeable Linux candidates to San Francisco for that show.

Well, truth be told, it was no different this year. Thus, a wise move on our behalf. We had a few clients that decided to have a booth at the job fair. I decided to keep my mouth shut for most of the day. I did not know at that time if I was going to be correct in my assumption or way off base. Toward the end of the day, I traveled around to the different booths to get the verdict. Nearly everyone of them was disappointed. I wish I could report different. It would have been wonderful if they were able to attract a number of good candidates. We would have been a shoe-in for next year.

Bottom line, it is tough to get good people to show up for a job fair in this environment. I do not see that changing. Job fairs are yesterday in the world of recruiting. I applaud Dice for giving it a go. In their defense, it had pretty good attendance. They just were not able to attract the right type of candidates. And, I think they were trying to climb a never ending mountain in their attempt to do so. It will be interesting to watch if they attempt to try it again next year.